In order to provide convenience for applicants, there are some special institutional designs in US patent applications and examinations, and applicants can fully utilize these systems to achieve better protection effects at lower costs.

[敏感词]incidental motion

Temporary application is an informal application method aimed at establishing a "US priority date", but it does not directly grant authorization. Temporary applications do not require formal patent claims or oaths or declarations, nor do they need to include any disclosure (prior art) statements, as temporary applications are not subject to examination. The waiting period for a temporary patent application is 12 months from the date of submission of the temporary application and cannot usually be extended; Within a period of more than 12 months but not exceeding 14 months, if there is an unintentional reason, it can be restored after paying the fees and requesting documents.

Within 12 months after submitting the provisional application, the applicant may submit a formal application and claim priority to the provisional application, or convert the provisional application into a formal application.

Within these 12 months, give the applicant sufficient time to prepare and submit a formal application. In these two options, if the applicant submits a formal application and claims priority to the temporary application within 12 months after the submission of the temporary application, the 12-month period of the temporary application will not be counted towards the validity period of the patent right. On the other hand, if the applicant decides to directly convert the provisional application into a formal application, the patent term will be calculated from the application date of the provisional application. Due to the fact that the former can obtain a longer protection period, most applicants tend to choose the former. This strategy can maximize the protection period of patents.

Temporary applications for design patents shall not be submitted.

-NO.2Continue to apply

Continued application is based on previously submitted but pending non provisional patent applications. Specifically, to continue the application, the original application must be under examination, not have been granted patent rights, and must be a formal patent application rather than a provisional application. The content disclosed in the continued application must be consistent with the original application, but a larger scope of rights can be obtained by modifying the claims.

Usually, the applicant may submit a continuation application after receiving the final review opinion or advisory action on the parent case. Continued applications must be submitted during the pending review process of the original application.

-NO.3continuation-in-part application

Partial continuation application refers to the application made on the basis of the original patent application, with partial modifications to the substantive content of the invention. The original patent application must be a formal patent application and currently in the pending approval stage. The application date for the parts that are the same as the original application in the continued application is the same as the application date of the original application, while the application date for the newly added parts is the date of submission of the new application.

Whether continuing the application or partially continuing the application, it provides the applicant with more opportunities to continuously improve the scope of protection of the claims. By filing a continuation or partial continuation application, the applicant is able to introduce new claims for more precise and comprehensive legal protection. Continuing to apply and partially continuing to apply are considered important means of patent layout, and patent owners can flexibly adjust the scope of protection based on the infringer's product by continuously submitting these applications.

-NO.4divisional application

The divisional application in the United States is basically the same as that in China, and a patent application must be filed based on the original application.

Differences and Similarities between Split Application and Continuation Application:

Similarities: Both divisional and continuing applications share the same filing date of the original application, which means they will all expire at the same time. The technical solutions involved in divisional and continuing applications must be the content already disclosed in the original application, and no new content may be introduced. These two must be raised during the examination process of the original application.

Difference: When responding to the examination opinion on the singularity of the original application, the applicant needs to select one set of claims for further examination, while the other set or sets of claims that have not been selected can be independently filed for a US patent through divisional application. If the protection scope of the original application is relatively narrow and the applicant wishes to modify the protection scope of the claims or add new claims based on the original application, they can choose to continue the US patent application by continuing the application.